


Tales from The Animal Kingdom

by ConsumingRomance (CameoAmalthea)



Category: AnimalKingdomDXM, Original Work
Genre: Gen, M/M, Naga, Sharks, Stalking, Violence, Vore, Yaoi, merman
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-24
Updated: 2016-01-24
Packaged: 2018-05-16 00:51:41
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,849
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5806915
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CameoAmalthea/pseuds/ConsumingRomance
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In a world full of monsters and humanoid-animals who haven't given up their animal appetites it's eat or be eaten. Damien knows the world is dangerous and wouldn't have it any other way, especially when he finds himself drawn to a very dangerous boy named Adrian.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Snake and Toad

**Author's Note:**

  * For [AnimalCrossingDXM](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=AnimalCrossingDXM).



> Warning: This story contains vore. 
> 
> Written for AnimalKingdomDXM over on tumblr. Posting here because there's a comment section here and there isn't one on tumblr also this website has the best lay out for posting fiction. Adrian and Julius belong to AnimalKingdomDXM, Damien and Stripes belong to me. For more see my tumblr blog Consuming Romance.

Adrian was beautiful, that much Damien knew. If you weren’t looking closely, Adrian would seem to be an exceptionally striking young man. Reddish brown hair bone straight and layered to frame a boyish that face might have looked angelic if not for the wicked smirk. Upon closer inspection it was clear Adrian wasn’t human, but one of the many sort of animal-halves which filled the world. Animal-halves were not really half animal, though some like mermaids, centaurs, and naga did sport a half and half delineation, but it hard to find a word to fit the human form animals, though many just tacked on markers. Cat-boy, mouse-girl, if they didn’t simply call them cats or mice or in Adrian’s case Toad.

His Toad features were hardly noticeable at a glance, it was subtle things that gave him away, light honey-colored eyes with rectangular pupils and long pointed ears marking him as an inhuman monster. Then there was his tongue, the only truly amphibian feature he had although that was only noticeable when he chose to extend it to grab something to eat. Of course, to Damien it was obvious that Adrian was in fact a cane toad the moment he caught his scent in a cafe. Damien was a naga, half human-half snake, and as such could pick up a great deal of information by smell and taste alone. It helped that he knew the scent of cane toad well, as such creatures were among his favorite foods.

Although really, it didn’t matter much to the naga what sort of creature the beautiful boy was: all that mattered was that Adrian was very very pretty. Damien was enthralled by beauty in all its forms, art, music, fine food, and most of all people who he found exceptional. He despised boredom above all else. Boredom was an ever-lurking threat. Having inherited a fortune at a very young age, nothing in life had even been denied to him. He was beautiful, wealthy, and powerful enough within society thanks to his money and status as a philanthropist and investor that there were very few things denied to him. Money had a way of making things easy, and where there were things money couldn’t buy his good looks and charm did the rest.

The fact Damien was attractive was something he knew for a fact and could say without a shred of vanity or exaggeration. His serpentine scales were a lovely burnt orange with a wave of ebony swirling down his tail to create a lovely pattern that always drew compliments. His human half was a handsome latino man, so handsome he verged on pretty with his wavy brown hair that fell just to his shoulders, enormous brown eyes that were almost golden at times and slit like a cat’s, and lips both full and soft. His looks enabled him to have almost anyone he wanted as there was never a shortage of willing partners.

Best of all, as a naga he was also in a comfortable position on the food chain and being slightly venomous he’d never had much to fear. Perhaps that’s why this Adrian intrigued him so completely. The cane toad was dangerous.

Danger could be exciting. Besides, he was so very lovely. Perhaps Damien liked the irony or that…beautiful on the outside but absolutely awful beneath that sweet exterior. There were rumors about that one, as beautiful people tended to draw rumors. From what Damien could gather, the toad was a glutton and a killer. Anyone who got too close ran the very serious risk of ending up in the toad’s belly, and he had little mercy for anyone.

Of course, Damien should have had little to fear. His kind was made to kill such creatures. While Cane Toads were toxic to most, banded cat-eyed snakes like himself were immune, and found the creatures to be a particularly delectable treat. One bite and he could paralyze a cane toad for hours, more than enough time to get them down. But there was more to this Adrian than a meal.

Adrian was beautiful and terrible. Perhaps proud and cunning enough to try to turn the tables on his natural predator and switch their positions on the food chain. While Damien had no interest in ending up in that toad’s belly, the risk appealed to him. His life had too little risk and he thought everything might be sharper, more vibrant and beautiful when you knew you could easily die.

What a dance they could have, a snake and a toad. One wrong move and Adrian could probably get the best of him. What a prize that would be for the toad too? What could better feed his ego than eating something that was supposed to eat him? Would Adrian try to slit his throat? Drug him or bind him and gobble him up alive? Damien was sure that if he let his guard down he doubted Adrian would hesitate to kill him, even if they got close.

And oh he did want to get close. He wanted to wrap Adrian up in his coils and embrace him from behind and feel the toad’s heart racing. He wanted to kiss Adrian’s neck with soft lips, even though they both knew his teeth held venom. He wanted to lick his neck too, and see if he tasted as good as he looked…

But he did not want to eat him. He hated seeing beautiful things destroyed. If Damien ate Adrian then he wouldn’t have him to enjoy. This toad might not have been particularly special, but beauty itself was a rare enough thing and even cruelty could be something of a talent.

Now, he wanted to get to know him. To see if he could be any fun.

So when Damien spotted the object of his desires at a bar he approached him at a bar with some swagger, smiling at him.

“Hello,” he said, “I’ve heard a great deal about you, Adrien, most of it warnings to stay far away. Unfortunately, I’ve never been able to resist beauty.” His smile was stunning, even though his teeth were sharp. “So how about a truce? I promise not to bite or eat you,” he paused then to add, in case the Toad was thinking of trying anything, “and believe me one bite would be enough to bring you down and make you a very easy meal.” He said it matter of factly, but kept his tone light. “And in return you promise not to try anything with me? Maybe we could get to know each other? You’re very cute.” He said, leaning in closer as he said it.

Adrian blanched, confidant smirk vanishing from his face the moment Damien drew near. The toad beat a hasty retreat, cowering behind some muscle bound guy with perfectly sculpted arms, a golden tan and a mouth full of very sharp teeth.

Damien watched him go and shook his head. How disappointing. Cowering like common prey. He’d met rabbits braver than that! Although he was still beautiful, even when he cowered. Really, Adrian was so cute when he was afraid…and so not worth Damien’s time. There was nothing special about how he was acting at all. Damien headed for the bar to order a drink. What had he been thinking? Really? Prey were rarely interesting, outside of the rare talented gems he collected. It was always the same: cowering, sniveling, surrender to predetermined lots.

As Damien brooded the man Adrian had chosen to hide behind came his way. The naga flicked his tongue in the air idly, taking in his taste which reminded him of the sea. Some sort of merfolk then...most merfolk could walk on land when mean shifting into a form with legs. He’s always been jealous of that ability, he’d have liked to have legs for a day to see what it was like but oh well.

“Hey snake,” said the man. Damien turned to meet his gaze and found himself staring into jet black eyes, the man's hair was the exact shade of grey as a shark’s fins and the rows of pointy teeth visible when the man spoke left little doubt that he was some sort of large shark. “That toad-boy asked me to have a word with you.”

Damien noted the man's thick Australian accent. “Are you his boyfriend?” he asked. 

“Yea, nah- Never met him before in my life,” said the shark. “Besides, don’t swing that way myself. Just didn’t appreciate having the little squirt cowering behind me. So whatever you started, I’d drop it.”

“Did he ask you to get rid of me?” asked Damien. “Probably hoped you’d eat me since he doesn’t have the guts to try killing me himself.” Damien rolled his eyes and took a long sip of his martini. “I’m sorry if he was troubling you. Might I buy you a drink to make up for it?”

“You’re a bit nonchalant for someone who realizes I could finish you off,” said the shark.

“At least let me finish my drink first,” said Damien. “And please, we’re in public. You don’t want a scene do you?”

“He doesn’t,” piped up another voice. A smaller fish boy came to the shark’s side. Well at least Damien assumed it was a fish boy. His scent suggested a merman anyway, but it was always a little hard to tell when they were out of the water. What was certain was that this one wasn’t a shark. Unlike the Australian whose teeth were perfect triangles sharp enough to be arrowheads, the smaller merboy had normal teeth, he was also much smaller and since he looked about eighteen Damien doubted his size had anything to do with being younger.

“I’m Stripes,” the boy introduced, holding out a his hands. Damian took it out of politeness, still wondering why this fish was apparently friends with the shark. If anything the wide eyed boy reminded him of the short of boy whose sole role in an anime would be trying to get senpai to notice him. He wasn’t unattractive by any means, not with his friendly boyish smile and large blue eyes under a mop of messy black hair. He was just very thin and short and well...cute.

“Julius, this is Damien,” Stripes introduced, as if he’d ever met Damian before in his his life, which he hadn’t as far as Damien could remember. “He’s very well connected in the city, and popular."

It was all Damien could do not to role his eyes. Sometimes he hated that his reputation proceeded him, especially since those who knew him as a paragon for charity and virtue had no idea everything he did was motivated by pure selfishness. He wanted to enjoy beauty and have access to all things exceptional, and sometimes that required cultivating talent. He’d once followed the sounds of a violin to a mouse-girl playing on the streets. She’d frozen at the sight of him, but he’d begged her to keep playing, offering to pay.

When he’d carried her off she probably thought she was going to die a horrible death in the naga’s stomach. Instead he’d taken her to a conservatory and introduced her to the director there, offering to pay her tuition if she were accepted. As he gave considerable donations to the institution, his recommendation held some weight and besides, she had talent. She’d never understood why he’d helped her. No one really cared for mice. He simply said, because your music is beautiful.

He cultivated many such talents, artists, musicians, singers and actors. He was known as a patron of the arts and the fact he did not discriminate among species was always the subject of gossip. He firmly believed that anyone could have incredible talent and all deserved a chance. A rat chef, a mouse singer, even the lowliest of creature deserved a chance to rise in the world and contribute to its beauty. Above all Damien wanted beautiful things to exist and to have ample access to all things the moved him. He cared little for the good will it earned him, especially when it attracted boring hypocrites who only interested in helping others to make themselves look good. Damien has no interest in looking good to anyone, and would be the first to admit he was a terrible person. 

The little fish, however, seemed very concerned with what people thought...or at least with people thought of his shark friend. "It would not help your image if you-” 

The shark groaned and glowered down at the fish boy. “Are you really gonna follow me everywhere?”

“Well it is my job,” said the boy. “And it’s a good thing I did, because publicly eating someone-”

“Wait wait what.? Hold up there.” said Julius. “You really think it’s your job to police my every move?”

“To help you,” he corrected. “In any way that I can.”

“Oh?” asked the shark. “How about you help by filling my belly instead?”

“That’s not what I’m for,” protested the fish. Who seemed more offended than scared, as if the death threat was little more than exasperating. But before he could continue Julius turned and grabbed him by his shoulders.

The shark lifted him off the ground towards his gaping mouth. Damian watched transfixed as the shark’s mouth stretched impossibly wide. Unlike a naga, who like most creatures could only move their lower jaws, the Shark could move both, allowing his mouth to stretch into a perfect circle framed in teeth. Julius shoved the little fish inside his mouth, right past his teeth without so much as cutting him and straight into his cavernous pink gullet. Then in one swift movement, the shark tilted his head back and gulped the small boy down, his stomach stretching to accommodate the ensuing bulge.

The shark let out a loud belch, and then settled in at the bar next to Damien. “I think I’ll have that beer after all,” he said, ignoring the gasps and stares from those who’d noticed the display. “Sorry about that.”

“No, no it’s fine,” said Damien. He motioned to the bar tender. If anything the display had been intriguing to watch. He was well accustomed to seeing predators eat, including swallowing meals alive but he’d never seen anything eat like that.

For Damien eating live meals was a slow process of carefully unhinging his lower jaw and wrapping it around whoever he’d decided to introduce to his digestive system and then using his coils to push himself along, swallowing them down inch by inch the peristaltic rhythm of his throat and muscles of his pushing coils helping to aid them on their journey down the hatch. It seemed sharks had the ability to get a meal down in seconds, as easily as shoving something inside a sack.

The naga forced a polite smile. “I’m just glad you didn’t get any blood on me.” he admitted. “Though I suppose sometimes blood can be pretty. Such a striking color.”

“Yeah, wasn’t tryin’ to make a mess for staff to have to deal with,” he said, “or traumatize anyone. Just wanted to shut him up.” He gave his stomach another pat. “I can’t eat in public? How annoying was that?”

The bartender set a pint in front of Julius who took it gratefully. “Cheers, mate,” he said, taking a sip.

“So how exactly were you acquainted with that fish?” asked Damien.

“My agents assigned him to me. A personal assistant/P.R. manager, more like a pest.”

“Ah,” said Damien “Well it seems I misjudged your willingness to kill indiscreetly?”

“Nah, he’s still alive,” said the shark, patting his stomach. “I get a bit tired digesting a big meal, so I’ll save that bit for later.” He took a long gulp of his beer.

“And what about me?” asked Damien. “Should I be afraid?”

“Everyone should be afraid,” he said, “always a bigger fish and always a reason to be smart. And maybe dinner had a point about picking fights with strangers. You’re well off, then?”

“I do well enough,” said Damien. “And you? You have an agent? Are you a model? You look like you could be a bodybuilder.”

“Just a gym rat and a swimmer,” he said, “pro surfer in fact. In town for a comp.”

“I wish you luck,” said Damien.

“So what’s with you and that toad?” he asked. “Hunting in a bar?”

“Flirting in a bar,” said Damien. “I’d much rather fuck him then eat him.”

Julius glanced back at the toad boy who was watching the exchange from the side of the room nearest the door. “Blunt,” he said. “Take it you weren’t his type?”

“I don’t think he’s really mine,” said Damien. “If you speak to him again, tell him I say sorry, I mistook you for someone interesting, but I see now you’re not worth my time.”

“This ain’t middle school, mate,” said Julius, “I’m not passing messages. Honestly, I’d just leave him be.”

Damien agreed. After all, the toad really wasn’t all that interesting.

All the same, even when he got home Damien found he couldn’t get the boy out his head. Maybe if he could convince him that he wasn’t so scary. That they could be on equal footing on the food chain and that he’d really meant it about the truce. That fucking someone who could kill you was the greatest thrill in the world and totally worth it, as was fucking someone you could kill. Fear mixed with desire was his favorite thing.

Perhaps hitting on him in a bar wasn’t the best first approach. He’d try a different tract, something more traditional and pathetic. Something to make him seem harmless and foolish and crazy and maybe he was just a bit.

Something just to see what the toad would do in response…like formally inviting him out on a date. And if he was stood up at the restaurant then oh well…the risk of rejection was still a risk. Damien liked risks and he liked new experiences and he had to admit, being turned down was definitely new.


	2. Shark And Fish

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bonus Story: Life isn't easy when all you want is to make friends with sharks

In the pit of Julius’s stomach Stripes curled in on himself in utter despair. Cringing as he was showered in warm beer. He waited for the burning to come, but it didn’t, nor any churning to grind him up. He strained to listen to the voices of the outside world through the gurgling of the rest of Julius’s digestive system, hurt at how casually Julius was discussing eating him.

His frowned only deepened when Julius called him a pest. That was the last thing he’d meant to be. Well, he hadn’t meant to be food either, but really nothing could be worse than being called a pest. Then Julius went on to say he wasn’t going to digest him yet. Right then, a night being showered in beer and bits of chewed up whatever else Julius decided to nibble on and then a painful death.

Great.

He sat back against the stomach’s walls. Not horrified at being here so much as why he was here and what was in store. He’d always thought if he’d be swallowed it would like every other shark, like maybe to help remove something that had been stuck or to give an internal massage or just to hug really close. You now, tings pilot wish were supposed to do. Pilot fish were not supposed to be food.

When Julius finally made his way back to his hotel for night. An underwater resort catering to merfolk. Stripes felt him shift into his merform, the stomach expanding a bit as Julius changed. He sighed and shifted himself. Might as well die as himself. So legs gave way to beautiful black and white scales of a handsome young merman.

“Julius,” he said, calling out to the one who’d eaten him.

“You gonna beg now?” asked the Shark. “Or tell me I can’t do this?”

“No,” said Stripes. “I just wanted to say I’m sorry. I…I wasn’t trying to boss you around. I just wanted to look out for you. You’re the first shark I’ve ever been assigned to and I…I wanted to do a good job...”

There was a long silence. “You tried a bit too hard,” he said at last. “Really, you hardly gave me room to breathe, always asking what you could do or telling me what I should do. It was suffocating.”

“I’m sorry,” he said again. “I…I don’t want to beg. I just…I wish I’d done better and now I don’t even have a chance and if I die here I never will…I just want to be with you and…”

“Look, Stripes, you’re a pilot fish not a baby sitter. Just help me out when I ask, give me the info I need for my image but don’t try to boss me around. Maybe try thinking of it like partnership more than a job?”

“Well it’s a bit late for me to do better at this point,” he said. He reached and began to run a hand along the shark’s stomach. “Unless you’d give me another chance?”

“Well, usually when I eat someone they’re food and that’s the end of it,” he said, he put a hand on his stomach, returning the gesture. “But despite what you might think I actually do care about my reputation and eating my pilot fish wouldn’t do it any favors.” It was well know that the bond between predator and pilot fish was a sacred bond of trust. A pilot fish could swim into the gaping jaws of the most terrible beast of the depth and emerge unharmed, for useful things could only be useful if they could trust they wouldn’t die for their trouble.

“So you’ll let me out?” asked Stripes, his heart leaping with delight.

“Yeah,” he said, “sorry for eating…and pouring beer on your head. Guess I’m not used to being told what to do by a fish, but you did mean well…so let’s give it another try? And if it doesn’t work out, there are other killer fish in the sea? Don’t be so hard on yourself.”

Stripes nodded, actually smiling at Julius’s encouragement. “Once I’m out, we’ll go…I mean…ahem…Would you like me to show you the best places to get some seals or some merfolk? You’ll probably feel a bit empty once I’m out.”

The shark chuckled. “See you’re learning. Asking is much better than telling, and yeah that sounds nice,” said Julius. “But first let’s go to the room and get you cleaned up, yeah?”

“Yeah,” said Stripes. “Heh, you looking out for me. That’s not how this usually works.”  
“It’s how being friends work,” he said, “you may want to serve me and I’m sure you will, but let’s just try to be nice to each other.”

The pilot fish happily snuggled against the side of the shark’s stomach and it was a very nice thing indeed.


End file.
